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How To Check PowerShell Version in Windows 10 & 11

Depending on what version of Windows you are using, the PowerShell version will differ. Depending on the PowerShell version, there might be unavailable features, and the PowerShell scripts might not work as they should. This is especially true if the scripts are made with a specific PowerShell version in mind. So, before doing anything with PowerShell, you might want to check the PowerShell version. Here’s how.

Note: though I’m showing this in Windows 10 and 11, the below commands/methods work perfectly fine on older versions like Windows 7 and Windows 8.

Table of contents:

Check PowerShell Version in Windows 11

In Windows 11, you can execute a simple PowerShell cmdlet you get PowerShell version. You have to open PowerShell in Terminal and run the command. Let me show you how to do it.

  1. Right-click the Start menu.
  2. Choose the “Windows Terminal (Admin)” option.
  3. Make sure the PowerShell tab is opened in the Terminal.
  4. Execute “$PSVersionTable” in the terminal.
  5. You will see PowerShell version next to “PSVersion” heading.
  6. My PowerShell version is 5.1.
  7. You can safely close the Terminal window.
  8. You now know the PowerShell version in Windows 11.

That is all. It is that simple to get the PowerShell version in Windows 11.

Check PowerShell Version in Windows 10

To find which version of PowerShell you have in your system, we will use the PowerShell itself.

1. You don’t need administrative privileges to find the PowerShell version. So, search for PowerShell in the start menu and open it. You can also press “Win + X” and select the “Windows PowerShell” option to open the PowerShell.

Powershell in power user menu

2. In the PowerShell window, execute the below command, and you will see the PowerShell version next to PSVersion. In my case, the PowerShell version is 5.1.17763.316. If you are wondering, you can know what these PowerShell versions mean from below, see the PowerShell versions heading.

$PSVersionTable
Check powershell version windows 10 01

3. If you want to, there is an alternative command to check the PowerShell version number. Like before, open the PowerShell window and execute the below command. The good thing about this command is that it just shows the PowerShell version eliminating all other fluff like build version, PSCompatibleVersion, etc.

Get-Host | Select-Object Version
Check powershell version windows 10 02

As I said before, the PowerShell version will differ depending on what version of Windows 10 you are using. For instance, the 17763 part of the version number is related to the Windows 10 v1809 build number.

Check powershell version windows 10 03

That is all. It is that simple to check the PowerShell version in Windows 10. Comment below if need any help.

PowerShell Versions

PowerShell v1.0 – Version 1.0 is released way back in the Windows XP Sevice Pack 2 and server 2003 era as an optional component.

PowerShell v2.0 – With version 2, Microsoft integrated PowerShell in Windows 7 and server 2008 R2.

PowerShell v3.0 – Version 3 made its way to Windows 8 and server 2012. Even Windows 7 and server 2008 R2 got the PowerShell version 3 update.

PowerShell v4.0 – Version 4 is integrated with Windows 8.1, Windows 7, and server 2008 got updated with the new PowerShell version.

PowerShell v5.0 – Version 5 includes significant new features like OneGet and extended support for switch management.

PowerShell v5.1 – Version 5.1 was released along with Windows 10 anniversary update and server 2016. From this version onward, PowerShell comes in two variants, regular PowerShell and PowerShell Core. The Core variant of PowerShell runs on the .NET core. PowerShell Core is also bundled in server 2016 Nano.

If you like this article, check out how to open command prompt always as admin and pin folders to the taskbar.

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